The present invention relates to a system, method and devices for documents with electronic copies attached thereto and, more particularly, to documents bearing an electronic microchip containing a copy of at least a portion of the printed or written document.
One of the important developments resulting from the space program is the electronic microchip. Since their introduction, the use of microchips has become increasingly common. Microchips may be found in devices such as watches, calculators, games, portable telephones and home appliances. There are a wide variety of chips with a range of capabilities, but most relevant to the present invention are chips attached to documents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,869 to Jacobson et al. teaches use of microchips for storing audio data in stick-on chips. Inclusion of visual data is not taught by Jacobson. In addition, the idea that the audio data would match visual data, such as text, of a document is not found in the teachings of this patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,936,527 to Isaacman et al. teaches the use of radio frequency broadcasts in conjunction with tags attached to documents as a means of locating specific documents. The idea that data in a tag would match visual data, such as text, of a document is not found in the teachings of this patent.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,621,200 and 6,053,405 to Irwin, Jr. et al. teach placement of electronic data on a document for subsequent identification and authentication of a document. Although the use of printed circuits is taught by these patents, the idea that data contained therein would match visual data, such as text, of a document is not found in the teachings of this patent. Teachings of this patent are limited to authentication.
PCT. No. WO 97/33252 to Brosow et al also deals with authentication of documents be means of a register stored in a chip associated with the document. Teachings of this patent are directed primarily at detecting alterations via comparative scanning of foreign bodies placed within the document. The idea that data contained in the chip would match visual data, such as text, of a document is not found in the teachings of this patent. Teachings of this patent are limited to authentication
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a system, method and devices for documents with electronic copies attached thereto devoid of the above limitation.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for producing documents with an electronic copy of at least a portion of the content of the document attached thereto, the system comprises: (a) a microchip, the microchip comprises a memory device capable of storing electronic data and a mechanism for affixation to a document; and (b) a chip loading device capable of placing electronic data corresponding to at least a portion of the document in the memory device of the microchip.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for producing documents with an electronic copy of at least a portion of the content of the document attached thereto, the method comprises the step of: (a) storing electronic data in a memory device of a microchip, the microchip including a mechanism for affixation to a document.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a writing surface, the writing surface containing a microchip capable of containing an electronic copy of at least a portion of a content of a document printable thereupon.
According to still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a chip reading device for reading an electronic copy of at least a portion of the content of a document attached thereto, the device being integrated into a machine selected from the group consisting of a computer, a personal digital assistant, a telephone, a photocopy machine and a fax machine.
According to an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a chip loading device capable of placing electronic data corresponding to at least a portion of the content of a document in a memory device of a microchip attachable to the document, the device being integrated into a machine selected from the group consisting of a computer, a printer, a photocopy machine, a scanner and a fax machine.
According to further features in preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the content of the document contains visual data of at least one type selected from the group consisting of text, at least one image, at least one color and at least one texture.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the electronic copy contains at least one data type selected from the group consisting of digital data and analog data.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the electronic copy contains data of at least one type selected from the group consisting of text, at least one image, at least one color, sound and at least one texture.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the system further comprises a chip reading device.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the chip reading device is integrated into a machine selected from the group consisting of a computer, a personal digital assistant, a telephone, a photocopy machine and a fax machine.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the chip loading device is integrated into a machine selected from the group consisting of a computer, a printer, a photocopy machine, a scanner and a fax machine.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the microchip further comprises a status indicator which is readable by an operator of the system.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the method further comprises the step of affixing the microchip to an item selected from the group consisting of the document and a blank writing surface upon which the document may be printed.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the chip loading device is integrated into a machine selected from the group consisting of a computer, a printer, a photocopy machine, a scanner and a fax machine.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the method further comprises the step of reading the electronic data.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the step of reading the electronic data is performed by a machine selected from the group consisting of a computer, a personal digital assistant, a telephone, a photocopy machine, a fax machine and a dedicated chip reader.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the microchip further comprises a status indicator which is readable by a user of the writing surface.
The present invention successfully addresses the shortcomings of the presently known configurations by providing a versatile system, method and devices for documents with electronic copies attached thereto.